Dead Ringer (7 page)

September
16

Laura

It was Wednesday afternoon, which
meant Becca was sitting backward on her rolling desk chair with three pens
stuck in her knotty ponytail, running the weekly editorial meeting. It had
become Laura’s favorite hour of the week.

Their “newsroom” consisted of: two terrified freshmen—nicknamed
Dee and Dum—who Becca pressured into being underclassman reporters; Tommy
Skendarian, the tech wiz who managed to lay out the entire newspaper in the
three hours Becca gave him before it needed to go live; Claudia Bishop, who
covered the arts and texted through every single meeting; Dan Jackson, who
missed every single meeting; and Becca. It was a miracle they produced a weekly
paper at all.

“Listen, people. We had ten articles this week and five were
written by Rivers. If you’re not going to pull your weight, leave,” Becca said.

“But then Rivers will have to write all the articles,” said either
Dee or Dum.

Becca rolled her eyes. No one was ever going to take the
paper as seriously as she did, but Laura was growing to be a close second.
The
Chronicle
had become her safe haven in the weird social world of Englewood
High, and that was worth almost all the work.

“Rivers, how’s that Sanders soccer profile coming? I want to
start sending a photographer to cover practices if it’s looking like the piece
is going to work out,” Becca said.

There was also that incentive…

* * *

Laura and Charlie had sat down for
two informal interviews over the course of the previous week—one of which
included listening in on an interview he was doing with ESPN magazine about the
top high school athletes in the nation. It was Laura’s idea to eavesdrop.
Charlie could barely talk about the profile without getting red in the face,
but Laura got the sense that her support put him at ease.

Their time alone seemed to diffuse any awkwardness that was
still lingering after that first week of school. Either Charlie was no longer
worried about Amanda getting jealous, or something had changed between them.
Either way, he was fully focused on her when they met and seemed to ask her as
many questions as she asked him.

Laura fully intended to write a brilliant article for the
paper, but she also had a feeling this proximity with Charlie would help answer
some questions that
wouldn’t
end up in print.

“Can you talk about what makes you nervous on the field?”
Laura asked during their second session together. It was an unusually warm day
for late September, and they were sitting in the gazebo outside the greenhouse
that the horticulture club had just finished constructing.

“Disappointing people,” Charlie said, a hint of sadness in
his voice. The response was almost instant, but Laura had a feeling he didn’t
say those words often, if ever. “I put a lot of pressure on myself because I
know that I can do it if I work hard enough.”

“Define ‘it’?” Laura asked. Charlie paused for a second. He
looked like he might be a little embarrassed.

“Become a doctor,” he said. “Crazy, right?”

“Whoa. I mean, it’s not
crazy.
But it was not what I
was expecting to hear,” she said. “What does that have to do with playing
soccer?”

“Soccer is just the way I’m going to make it happen. My
grandpa wanted to be a doctor in the army, but he didn’t even have an eighth-grade
education. Then my mom wanted to go to nursing school, but she had me so young
that she could never afford to put herself through college. Please don’t print
this, but if all works out, I’m going to be the first Sanders to ever actually
make it past high school. And if I do, I’m going all the way.”

“That is a beautiful thing,” Laura said. “I won’t print it,
but I’m really glad to know it.”

Charlie smiled, relaxed now. “Thanks, Cali,” he said,
“You’re easy to talk to. So now you get to tell me something really deep.”

“Like what?” Laura said. She liked that he’d taken to
calling her Cali exclusively, even if it was a bit of a cliché.

“Like…what makes you nervous?” he asked.

Laura thought for a second. Since her first day at Englewood,
she’d committed to being bold and brave, wearing what she wanted, making friends
she liked no matter their social status, and not hiding how much she enjoyed
her classes—even the tough ones. For the first time in her life, she
wasn’t constantly thinking about what everyone thought about her and it was
liberating; she actually felt lighter walking around in her body.

“I guess I’m nervous about slipping back into the person I
used to be,” she said. Charlie raised an eyebrow, surprised by the honesty.

“Who did you used to be?” Charlie asked.

“This really quiet, nervous version of myself that let
people walk all over me,” Laura said. “I wasn’t as confident before. You know,
in California all the schools are open air, so you eat lunch at an outdoor
cafeteria and walk from class to class on this veranda thing.”

“Ugh don’t make me more jealous than I already am…”

“Yeah, well, people make a big parade out of the whole
strutting and sitting in the sunshine, and I hated how image-focused it always was.
I would compare myself to all of them and spend forever trying to figure out
how to impress them, which never worked, of course. I didn’t know how to be
myself. It’s not really a place that supports that. But I decided to start over
when I came here and just be exactly who I want to be. I think that’s made a
huge difference.”

“I get that,” Charlie said, “I definitely fell into the
Englewood way when I got here, especially when I started dating Amanda. I guess
we have a lot in common, Cali.”

Laura smiled. She wasn’t sure if he was flirting or just
being a sweet guy, but right now, she didn’t care. They were becoming friends
and that was worth more to Laura than any temporary crush—that meant
Charlie liked her as a person, not just some girl to date and forget about
later.

“Hey. This is a little awkward, but do you want to come back
to my house to watch me work out?”

Laura blurted out a laugh. “Um, that
is
awkward,” she
said. “Why do you want me to do that?”

“I knew it sounded weird…” Charlie said, laughing himself.
“I just figured we could talk about what it’s like to keep up with the fitness
part of being on the team while I’m at home. I could even give you some
pointers if you want.”

“Are you saying I need to buff up?” she asked, joking.

Charlie reached out and gave her right bicep a squeeze.
“Whoa, Cali. You could have some serious guns up there if you put a little work
in.”

“Well, then, let’s go,” Laura said.

Fifteen minutes later she was staring at Charlie’s arms as
he showed her the proper way to do a push-up in the little garage gym he had
set up. He’d changed into a tight T-shirt and soccer shorts and Laura could see
almost every muscle in his completely built body. Plus his summer tan was still
in full effect. Laura hoped to God she didn’t have to perform whatever move he
was currently demonstrating, because she wasn’t listening to a word he said.

“Okay, Cali,” Charlie said, as if reading her mind. “You’re
up.”

Laura was pretty sure he could hear her gulp. Not only did
she have zero upper body strength, but also she was currently wearing the super-short,
gingham shirtdress she’d had on all day at school. Maybe that could be her
excuse.

“I would absolutely love attempting to be remotely as strong
as you,
but
I’m not sure I can tackle that in this little number I’m
wearing.”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said with a smile. “I feel like
you’ll look great doing mountain climbers in that dress.”

Laura’s body reacted before she could and she gave Charlie a
playful shove.

“Excuse me, but I am a very professional journalist!” she
said.

Charlie responded by reaching over and grabbing her notebook
off his lifting bench. “Oh yeah? What have you got on me so far? Let’s take a
look.”

Laura went to snatch it back, but Charlie was too quick. The
next thing she knew, she was chasing him around his garage.

“Do ten mountain climbers and you get it back!” he yelled.

“No way, you just want to see up my dress!” she yelled back.

“Take it as a compliment, Cali!”

But somewhere around the second lap, Charlie’s phone started
to ring and did not stop.

“Cease fire!” he finally said on what had to be the tenth straight
ring. “This could be my mom.”

Laura pretended to agree to the truce, but the minute
Charlie reached for the phone, she grabbed her notebook back. Charlie responded
with the raise of one eyebrow, impressed.

“Hello,” he said. “Okay. Whoa. Calm down.
Breathe
…
What??” Charlie paused for a second, not looking up from the spot on the ground
where he was staring. Laura could see the panic all over his face. “Okay. I’ll
be there as soon as I can.”

“Oh my God, was that your mom? Is she okay?” Laura asked as Charlie
hung up.

“No,” he said, “It was Amanda. She’s…someone…it’s a long
story. But I need to go over to her place. I’m really sorry about this.”

 “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, “I’m fine. Things are weird between us
right now, but she needs me.”

“Well then you’re a good friend, or…whatever you guys are,”
Laura said.

“Friends,” Charlie said, “I guess.”

Charlie tried to mask whatever was going on inside his head
with a smile, but Laura was getting to know him too well to be convinced.
Whatever Amanda said had him in a panic, and whatever war was going on between
them was nowhere near over.
If only this was the article I was writing
, she thought to
herself as she followed Charlie up the garage steps.

Charlie

Amanda was pacing around her living
room when Charlie walked in. He wished that he could say he’d never seen her
quite so stressed, but that wasn’t true. Right now what he wished even more was
that he hadn’t seen her just as unhinged about the exact same thing.

“Still think I’m the one pranking you, Carly?” she said, her
voice as wild as her eyes.

“I don’t know what I think anymore,” he said. “Let me see
the email on your computer. I couldn’t read it all in the picture you sent.”

Amanda grabbed her laptop off the coffee table and shoved it
in Charlie’s hands. The email was open on her desktop.

Charlie stopped there.

“Wait,” he said. “Original offer? Is this the second email
from this person?”

“Yes,” Amanda said, that quintessential, defensive tone in
her voice.

“And why didn’t you tell me about the first one?”

“Well, first of all, I didn’t think anything of it. And second
of all, you had recently accused me of sending you vicious pranks on VidBit.
I wasn’t exactly in the mood to do a romantic photo shoot with you.”

“But the first email mentioned the bridge, too?” Charlie
asked.

“Yes,” Amanda said. “But not like this one does. Keep
reading.”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said as he placed the computer back
down on the table. “What if it’s just a harmless comment?”

“’Something you’d rather not say over email?’” Amanda yelled.
“Could that be any clearer?! Someone knows.”

“I’m not sure,” Charlie said. “What if they’re just being
overly sensitive to you? Maybe you got dumped on the bridge, or your dad used
to take you there and he died, or you have anxiety about all bridges. I just
think these people are offering you the chance to explain yourself and that
you’re maybe reading into the way they said it.”

“And what if you’re wrong?”

Charlie sat down on the couch for a second, thinking. Amanda
was right: there was no room for error in this situation.

“You can’t go through with this. We’ll come up with an
excuse for you and email it back, and then you’ll never talk to these people
again. But the bottom line is that I don’t think we need to be paranoid.”

“Really? Because I think this message and those Vids are
from the same people.”

“I think that’s an assumption,” Charlie said. “Mine were from
this ‘C-O’ name and this is from some person named Sasha from a real company
with a real email address. I know it’s scary—I’m freaked, too—but
we have to stay calm and look at the facts.”

Amanda cuddled in next to Charlie and put her head in her
hands. It was a move Charlie hadn’t seen from her in a very long time.

“I wish so, so much that I didn’t…but I think you’re wrong,
Charlie,” she said through the fingers covering her face. When she looked up,
Charlie saw tears in her eyes. “I just don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

“But it’s been almost two years. Why would someone do this
now? The case is closed.”

“It may be closed legally, but it’s open again in everyone’s
minds,” Amanda said, “and we have one person to thank for that.”

“You think
Laura
has something to do with this?”
Charlie asked. “She lived three thousand miles away when this all happened.”

“No. I think that someone decided just how much they care
about Sarah Castro-Tanner now that Laura is here to remind them. She’s like the
trigger. And whoever it is thinks we know something.”

Charlie didn’t have an argument for that theory. He didn’t
entirely believe it, but he didn’t have a comeback.

“Well, we
do
know something,” he finally said. “But
why would they think that?”

“That’s what we need to figure out.”